Durham daily recorder., 1887-11-15
The Daily Recorder.
DURHAM, NOVEMBER 10, 1887.
Schools of Technology.

just at this time when the progress
Of Southern Industry is challenging
The serious attention of the whole
civilized world, and raising a compe>
ton with Northern manufactures that
have SO long held the undisputed
sway over the markets Of the Union
we may well pause and take a glance
at some Of our needs.
As long as slavery existed, there
was a certain state Of affairs that ne
cessarily must exist. The large plan
tation engaged solely in agricultural
interests, with, the high and noble
bearing Of our people, was just what
necessity brought about. There was
little demand for mechanical skill,
and our ruling classes knew almost
nothing about the mechanic arts, and
cared but little.
The results Of the war changed all
that, and necessity which is the
mother Of invention, forced Southern
minds into different channels, and tn.
wonderful increase of manufactures
and the development of our hidden
resources, boundless and inexhaus.
tible, was the result.
The necessary effect of this was to
supply, in the first place, the home
demand here in the South, and then
as the area gradually widened to com.
pete in all the markets of North Am.
erica with the Northern factories.
This has forced them very largely
to abandon the manufacture Of the
coarser and commoner fabrics in all
lines. and enter upon career Of man
ufacturing those finer fabrics which
have hitherto been imported from
Europe; for they now find that they
can not compete with manufactures
situated in the midst of the crude
raw article. Wendell Phillips talked
wisely and well when he said that
economy and business demanded that
the spindle and the loom should be
located in the cotton fields.
But the long experience of oui
Northern fellow-citizens have render
ed them able to move at once on the
line of manufacturing finer fabrics
as their habits snd years of training
have furnished them with a class o
skilled workers, and, with these, The
transition is easy and rapid.
But here in the South, we ended
the war, and as a result of our former
state of society, we were almost en-
tirely destitute of artisans in the com
monest trades of life, and really
skilled workmen could not be hat
and they are not made in day.
Before the South can move for
ward from the common manufacture
in which she is now engaged, and en-
ter upon the career of manufacturing
finer fabrics, more skilled wtrkmei
are needed. These cannot be sup
piled now by apprentices as we hav
not the shops in which to apprentice
them.
| This renders schools of technolog,
peculiarly necessary to the people o
the South, where those desiring /,
become skilled in the mechanic arts
can be educated precisely in the sam
way that a dentist is taught how I,
make set Of teeth and a surgeon t.
perform the many delicate operation
of surgery.
Hitherto this technical education
has too much escaped the attention
! of those connected with the highe
education Of the young in the South
We have followed too much the oil,
and beaten track of furnishing facili
ties for professional education, ant
have overlooked the needs Of techni
cal education. The learned profes
sions, as they..are called, are now over
crowded and promise to be so 70
many years; while on the other hand
there is a great demand for thos
thoroughly educated and trained i
technology. This demand so pressinI
now will not grow less in The years I
come; but, on the other hand, will In
crease, and opens q much finer fiel
than the learned professions with il
usual wears of starvation.